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Perspectives in Biology and Medicine 46.3 (2003) 456-458



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Transforming Matter: A History of Chemistry from Alchemy to the Buckyball. ByTrevor H. Levere. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Univ. Press, 2001. Pp. x + 215. $17.95 (paper).

One of the underlying themes in the development of chemistry is its interaction with biology and medicine. Even though this cross-fertilization is generally recognized, it is not always emphasized. In this book, Lavere organizes the history of chemistry around traditional topics, such as classification of elements and compounds, relationships between theory and applications, and the changing nature of chemistry, but even though the relationship between chemistry and the life sciences is not one of his major themes, he does offer enough material to make this book interesting to those in biology and medicine.

The chemistry of life has long been the focus of chemical inquiries, starting with the alchemist's quest for the elixir of life and continuing with the attempts by Paracelsus (1493-1541) to apply chemistry to medicine. During the late 18th century, when the modern science of chemistry was emerging, inorganic systems were given particular attention, since they appeared to be simpler than organic problems. Even then, however, biological and medical problems were also being examined. This observation is not surprising, since chemists were commonly involved in medical training, either because they were trained as physicians or because teaching chemistry to medical students was a source of employment. Lavoisier, who is often credited with being the father of modern chemistry, is a good example of a chemist who worked on both organic and inorganic projects. He is famous for developing the oxygen theory of combustion, but Levere points out that not only was Lavoisier's new chemical nomenclature inspired in part by the biological classification system of Linnaeus, but also Lavoisier performed experiments on plant and animal respiration that were the origins of physiological chemistry. [End Page 456]

Lavoisier's work indicated that the chemistry of the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms was really a single discipline, but as the 19th century began, chemical theories continued to focus mainly on inorganic compounds. This view was challenged in the 1830s by a young French chemist, Auguste Laurent (1807-1853), who argued that it was important for chemical formulas to attempt to show the actual arrangement of atoms in molecules. To demonstrate the importance of structure, he pointed to examples such as urea and ammonium cyanate, which had the same chemical composition but didn't react in the same way. Laurent believed that organic chemistry was a more promising starting point for developing chemical theory. Levere concludes that although these organic and inorganic approaches continued independent evolution for some time, they eventually converged to the point where they were almost identical.

There were several obstacles to unifying inorganic and organic chemistry. One often cited impediment was vitalism, the belief that organic compounds possessed some special quality associated with their origins in living systems. A more fundamental limitation was the difficulty in analyzing organic compounds. A German chemist, Justus Liebig (1805-1873), played a major role in organizing and developing organic analysis and so expedited this convergence. Liebig is probably best known today for creating the model of the modern chemical research laboratory; Levere explains that Liebig used existing pharmacy and apothecary schools as a model for developing his laboratory. Many of Liebig's ideas had significant influence on medicine and biology, including his research on animal physiology and pathology, and his groundbreaking proposals for recycling, public health, sanitation, and agriculture. His influence was international, because many of the 700 students who matriculated in his laboratory came from other countries. Perhaps most important, Liebig's goal of analyzing and purifying traditional herbal medicinals to isolate their active ingredients had a profound effect on medicine and pharmacy.

In the early 19th century, drug discovery was still largely a combination of folklore and good luck, but new analytical and synthetic techniques, such as those pioneered by Liebig, did make it possible to isolate useful drugs, including quinine, cocaine, aspirin...

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